Sessions of knowledge are sessions of awareness. There are several sessions of awareness, for example:
- how can I realize the satisfaction of Allaah Subhaanahu wa ta3aalaa in my daily life?
- how can I protect myself from the whisperings of the shayaatien of the humans and the jinn.
Sessions of knowledge should be areas of education, because sessions of knowledge of scholars and people with knowledge are not only sessions of transferring knowledge, but they are also sessions where people should be educated. Nowadays, these are sessions to gain knowledge of general information of Islaam. It is important to look at where one is being educated. And where am I getting dry information and not being taught how to apply it? In such sessions they educate their students and guests as they educate their children. If a scholar was engaged in an admonition and he sees a person who is dreaming then he said: get up and listen! And to another he said: have you listened? No: go and perform your wudhoe. To another he said: you are yawning without putting your hand in front of your mouth, do that!
Now many people come to a session of knowledge with arrogance and want to know: who is that to me, is he saying the right things and does this way suit me? He is more concerned with controlling than wanting to be educated. This has to do with the ikhlaas (pure intention) of a person when gaining knowledge.
An example of a session of knowledge with shaykh 3Uthaymeen: he made the people who were not paying attention, gave an incorrect answer, etc. stand up. These were older people, but everyone was educated by this scholar. Don’t want to learn? Get out of here! Don’t want to be educated? Go ahead and leave! Do you want to be educated? Welcome!
These ways of sessions of knowledge need to be brought back to life by scholars. Alhamdulillaah, we are seeing this in more and more mosques. When we want to give advice to brothers and sisters, we should pick these kinds of sessions and advise people to them. We learn a lot from: how the attitude is of the scholar, how his behavior is and how his reaction is.
The Prophet sallallaahu 3alaihi wa sallam begged for Abdullah ibn 3Abbaas radiya Allaahu 3anhu , the nephew of the Prophet sallallaahu 3alaihi wa sallam, “O Allaah, give him understanding of the religion and teach him the interpretation of the Qur’aan.” He gave to the great sahaabah explanations of the Qur’aan. He was one of the greatest scholars of the sahaabah in explaining the Qur’aan. This sahaabi, was a judge in his time and another time he was the head of a state or federated entity of the Arab state.
The sahaabah also sat down in front of Abdullaah ibn Mas3oed radiya Allaahu 3anhu, before the morning prayers, waiting for him to come out so that they could walk with him to the mosque to learn something from him in that short time.